Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/127

ASABA. was the administrative headquarters of the Royal Niger Company, and is the seat of the Supreme Court.

A'SA DUL'CIS (Neo-Lat. asa; cf. Pers. aza, mastic, Ar. asa, healing, and Lat. dulcis, sweet). A drug in high repute among the ancients as an antispasmodic and diuretic; also for supposed virtues of the most extraordinary kind, such as neutralizing the effects of poison, curing envenomed wounds, restoring sight to the blind, youth to the aged, etc. Its value was estimated by its weight in gold. The princes of Cyrene caused a figure of the plant producing it to be struck on the reverse of their coins, and it was sometimes called Laser Cyrenaicum. The plant is of the genus Thapsia (of the natural order Umbelliferæ). It is a native of the south of Europe and of Barbary.

AS'AFŒTIDA, or ASSAFŒTIDA (Lat., fetid asa or assa). A gum-resin, which has been supposed to be identical with the exuded juice of the Silphion of Dioscorides, so highly esteemed among the Greek physicians; but this, perhaps, was rather the Asa dulcis (q.v.). This drug is brought from Persia, Turkestan, and Afghanistan, and is procured by drying the milky juice which flows from the root of the Ferula fœtida. The root is long, and generally undivided; white inside, hut having a black covering; and contains in its interior a quantity of juice of an overpowering odor, which much resembles that of garlic. About April the root-leaves are taken away, and the root itself is more or less exposed by removal of the soil from about it. After a lapse of six weeks, a slice is cut horizontally from its summit and a thick white juice exudes, the smell of which even exceeds in strength that of the drug when dry. The drug is sometimes met with in the market in the form of tears, but more frequently in lumps, which are made up of irregularly shaped tears, agglutinated together by a softer substance. Asafœtida is used in medicine, and possesses stimulant, carminative, and antispasmodic properties. It is most useful in minor hysteria, and from its carminative action, in tympanitis or distention of the intestines with gas. When taken internally it undergoes absorption, and may be detected in almost every secretion of the body, as the saliva, breath, and urine. It is composed mainly of resin and gum. with a few per cent. of oil of garlic and a small amount of ferulaic acid. In many parts of the East asafœtida is used as a condiment.

ASAM, li'sam. A family of Bavarian artists. (died 1696) prepared several oil paintings and frescoes for the churches at Munich, Benediktbeuren, and Tegernsee. He later gave instruction in architecture at Prague. His sons, (1680-1742), painter, and  (died c. 1746), sculptor and worker in stucco, studied at Rome, and settled at Munich about 1715. They completely remodeled the cathedral of Freising, and decorated the monasteries of Maria-Einsiedeln and Metten and the Church of Saint Emmeram, at Ratisbon. They built the so-called Congregation Hall at Ingolstadt. and at their own expense constructed the church of Saint John, besides their dwelling in Munich, which building, with its numerous fantastic features, is in some respects one of the most striking specimens of the baroque style of architecture in Germany.

ASAMA-YAMA, i-sii'ma-yU'raa. The larg- est active volcano in Japan (8280 feet high), situated in about 138° 30' eastern longitude, and 36° 25' northern latitude. Its last eruption occurred in 1783, and caused the destruction of several villages and of a primeval forest. Since then its activity has been manifested largely in showers of ashes and stones. Its crater is circular in shape, and measures about three-fourths of a mile in circumference.

A'SAPH. The eponym of a guild of singers in the Second Temple, who may have superintended the musical part of the worship as early as the time of Nehemiah (Neh. vii. 44). Afterwards they shared this work with the 'Sons of Korah.' When the Korahites became porters and doorkeepers, the Asaphites were supplemented by the guilds of Heman and Ethan. The Chronicler, deeming it essential that the musical organizations of the temple should consist of Levites, represents Asaph, Heman, and Ethan as descendants of Gorshon, Kohath, and Merari (I. Chron. vi. 33-47). Psa. l., lxxiii.-lxxxiii., are attributed to Asaph, and consequently belonged to a hymn-book used by this choir.

AS'APHUS (Gk. d, a priv. + aap'/c, saphes, clear, distinct). An Ordovieian genus of smooth trilobites, often of large size, among the mem- bers of which there is manifested a tendency to lose that longitudinal lobation which is so pe- culiarly characteristic of the trilobites as a group. The large head-shield has the central portion or glabella indistinctly limited, and is provided with two reniform comiiound eyes which in some species are placed upon immovable stalks that, rising far above the general surface of the head, enable the animal to command a view of the entire horizon. This latter arrange- ment is of interest when considered in connec- tion with the nature of the joint that connected the head with the thorax, this joint having in all trilobites been so constructed as to prevent any lateral motion of the head-shield, a slight ver- tical motion only having been possible. The thorax has eight segments, and the tail-shield, of a size somewhat less than that of the head, is generally quite smooth and nonsegmented. The allied genus Megalaspis has a head of elongated triangular form, with the anterior and lateral angles produced into sharp spines. An- other allied genus, Niobe, which appeared at a somewhat earlier age than did Asaphus, ha? the longitudinal lobation quite well marked, and seems to indicate the form of the stock from which Asaphus was evolved through a gradual loss of the trilobation and segmentation of the carapace. These three genera, together with four others of less importance and over 150 .species, comprise the family Asaphidae, which is found abundantly in all portions of the Ordo- vieian system in Europe and North America. See ; ; and for illustration see plate accompanying.

ASAR, a'sar. OSAR, o'ser, or OESAR, e'sHr. Variations on the Swedish Osar. The same as Esker (q.v).

AS'ARABAC'CA (Lat. asarum, Gk. d<yapov, osaron, asarabacca + Lat. bacca, berry), Asarum europæum. A plant of the natural order